Valentine's Day
by Aurelie.m
Summary: Cassie is left alone for Valentine's Day. She retunrs to the ISD hoping to find something to occupy herself.
1. Chapter 1

**Valentine's Day …**

- "What can I do for you Cassie?"

She started. She was not expecting him to notice her so fast and had walked softly towards his office. But of course he had noticed her. You could not sneak out or in anywhere without him noticing you. She was in awe, though, that he would know it was her without even looking up from his screen.

She brushed her hair away from her forehead and spoke:

" I came to see if you had anything for me to do here. I sort of had to leave the house..."

- "And why is that?"

- Uh, Well … It is Valentine's Day... And I was politely asked to clear the way..." She had not been expecting the question. Surely he knew what day it was...

He finally raised his eyes from his computer to look at her; he had completely forgotten it was Valentine's Day. In his defence, he had not celebrated it for a while. He also realized why his help had suddenly been requested that very night. " Of Course. And shouldn't you be out enjoying that night instead of here asking for extra work?"

To his surprise, she blushed a little and he realized he had embarrassed her. He was going to correct his previous sentence into a classier one when she said: " To go out on Valentine's Day, you do need a date. It is not a day when you go to the restaurant on your own."

She went on trying to justify her presence in the office: " I usually stay home these kinds of nights and drown my sorrow in ice cream and silly movies but tonight it didn't seem like an option. Then I realized I did not have one single friend to go to and talk bad about all these cheesy couples that flourish on lover's night so I resorted to coming back to work. Sad enough..."

A smile rose on her lips as she locked her gaze to his: " So, anything you need help with now i'm here?"

He did not have time to answer or apologize: as he opened his mouth to speak, he was cut short by cries. Cassie tilted her head to the right and looked at him interrogatively. He raised a finger to ask her to wait and leaned behind his desk. When he reappeared, he was holding a few months old baby who had evidently been awoken from his dreams by their little talk. Cassie's eyes widened: "Uh, did I miss something?"

He smirked and filled her in: "This is Louis, one of my friend's baby. She asked me if I could babysit while she went out with her husband... for Valentine's day." He found the baby's pacifier and put it in his mouth, stopping the cries instantly: "he is usually a very calm baby but he apparently does not like to be awoken this way." He shook his head. Cassie sighed. She was evidently not getting any more information; Cross had always been cheap on those. Instead of praying for more, she looked at the baby. Since he had recovered his pacifier, he had tilted his head, just as she had done moments before and was now staring at her, obviously trying to decide wether he liked her or not.

She looked back at her boss: "So since you are busy, is there anything I can do? Fill in papers?... Classify files?"

He sighed: "I am afraid it is all classified, Cassie. You can't get a look at any of the papers I am working on... But you are welcome to stay here if you have nowhere else to go...

I could use the company", he added after some time, trying to make up for his earlier insensitive question.

- "Is he classified too?", she grinned, pointing at the baby. _"I_ am pretty good with babies and that would keep me busy tonight..._"_, she added quickly, when she saw him hesitate.

- " It is not that I don't trust you with a baby, but I feel bad devolving that to you", he explained to avoid any misunderstanding.

- "This is the kind of work I like to do", she reassured him. "Way better than classifying stuff and filling boring papers..." She winked at him.

"Well, then", he agreed. " I 'll be done pretty soon anyway. If you get bored with him, bring him back. Oh, and Valentine left a few books and toys in his pram if he doesn't want to sleep. It is in Duncan's office."

- " Your friend's name is Valentine? Well, that's circumstancial!", she smirked. He had a soft smile and handed her the newborn.

She took the baby from his arms and walked happily in the direction he had pointed. He watched her leave through the glass for a moment, then forced his gaze back to the screen. He rubbed his tired eyes and returned to his work.

On the other side of the glass, in Duncan's office, blue eyes looked in. She had always found watching him work rather soothing. She sat on her colleague's chair and started playing with the baby who giggled at her faces.

This Valentine's Day might not be as bas as she foresaw it.

She looked back at the other lit up office and wondered if she might lure him out to dinner. _Probably not tonight, _she thought. _Dommage..._

_Next episode to come..._


	2. The dinner

- " I am all done so you are officially off babysitting duty!"

She smiled at the hint of a joke: " I finish feeding him and I put him back to bed." As in echo, her stomach started growling. She moved uneasily and walked away from Duncan's office, Louis in her arms. He followed her back to his office where she put the baby back in his pram, the babybottle resting next to him, just in case.

- "Thanks for all your help! I think I would have been here for a couple more hours had I had to take care of Louis in addition to the rest...

How about dinner now? … Un less you had eaten before coming in...?"

Cassie was caught aback. She had certainly not expected him to invite her to dinner. But truth was, she hadn't eaten since lunch and was ravenous. She hid it though under a polite: " Thanks for the offer, what did you have in mind?"She didn't want to sound too interested.

He smiled and simply asked: "Have you ever seen the basement of the ISD by any chance?"

She grinned. He perfectly knew she was not allowed in the basement as she wasn't an official operative. The only place they had access to was the swimming pool and the sport center, all the rest was accessed by keycards and she therefore had no idea what was in there.

Not waiting for her to answer, he took the pram and led the way to the lift. She followed quickly; he had touched her curiosity.

He walked her through all the non-classified areas to satisfy her curiosity, pleased to be her guide, and finally led her to the place he had meant to take her in the first place: the winery. In there they kept all the wines, which were either confiscated and could not go to any heir or the bottles which were gifted by rich clients as thanks for their protection. There was also a big open kitchen with all the ustensiles to cook inside the drawers as well as food. Cassie stood in the middle of the vast room, trying to remember every detail so that she could describe it to her friends back at home.

- " I am sorry I can't take you out, but I have to stay there with the baby", he apologized. _Plus, I am not suppose to take you out anyway,_ he added in his thoughts. "But I can cook if you don't mind the wait...", he suggested.

She smirked: "Say that's your way of keeping me all to yourself!", she teased him. He stared at her interrogatively until he realized, seeing her smile widen, that she was once again joking him around. He relaxed and she added: " It is fine. With all these couples outside, I'm not sure I was feeling like dining out anyway.

So, ...what are your plans for dinner? Can I help with anything?"

He gave her his directions and started cooking: they would have italian for dinner; he had understood she was hungry, and that was the fastest to cook. Also, he knew there were some great wines in the cellar to go with what he had planned.

"Cassie, are you familiar with wine at all?"

"Of course!", she replied, looking almost vexed.

"Then, would you pick a bottle of your choice to accompany this dinner?", he offered, still turning his sauce.

"We are allowed to drink that wine?"

" Yes, but only as long as we don't get drunk. If we make a mess of this cellar, we will be banned from it."

The beautiful spy smiled and walked through the shelves, exploring the place. She finally found what she had been looking for and brought it back to the table she had set earlier. Again she marvelled at what a calm baby Louis was. He was currently looking around from his pram next to her boss, just happy not to be left alone. She came back to the kitchen and after ensuring that Mr Cross did not need any help, she grabbed the baby and walked back with him through the cellar.

-" Dinner is served if you are ready", she heard from behind her. She turned to find him on her footsteps. They both smiled and walked back to the table.

They ate in a rather cheerful manner although she did most of the talking. She could not help but think that it was refreshing to see him like that, more relaxed. He was a great cook too. For a moment, she had thought it might be awkward to have dinner with him but it felt surprisingly natural and unexpectedly agreable.

When she was lost in her thoughts, Cross received a call.

- "Valentine is going to be here any minute, i'll tidy here and we can go back to our floor if that's fine with you."

She helped him clean up and a few minutes later, they were back up. Truth was, she was excited to see what this Valentine looked like. They had not met any of Cross's friends ever, or at least any of his still alive friends.

As they reached Cross's office, they found a blond woman in her mid thirties, waiting in front of the door. Cross motioned to greet her as she peered at who had to be Louis' mom. She was wearing a simple blue dress and small heels. Her hair had obviously been taken care of by a professional for the night and she had little make up. In her simplicity, she liked that woman. All at her observations, she didn't realize immediately that Valentine was also looking at her with curiosity.

Leaving her thoughts, she handed her hand out to introduce herself, fearing she had been unpolite.

They talked for a little bit before Valentine and her boss moved aside to speak in private, leaving Cassie with the baby.

"You were right, she is quite something!"

He grinned uneasily, looking back at his spy : "so, how was your first night out without the baby?"

-"Great! Don't think you will escape by changing the subject cause I know you too well Quentin. How was your dinner?" She winked.

"Nothing special, just some pastas I cooked in the cellar. Nothing crazy really..." As he started looking more and more embarassed, Valentine decided to drop the subject for this once but promised herself to come back to it later, when they would be alone.

" Well then, i'll leave you to your not-so-special date! Thanks for the baby!" Another wink.

He sighed: why did all those women have to tease him all the time? It was starting to look like national sport! He composed himself and walked back to Cassie. Valentine had seemed to come back way too early and now he couldn't offer anything but to take her home, although the night was young. On their way to the elevator, he tried to think of something to steal a few more moments with her...

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated and I will try to post again soon, have a good night!**


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